The ever increasing popularity of stadium sporting events, such as professional football, has caused a proportionate increase in the number of people attending the events. Conventionally, especially in cities where there is a lack of mass transit, spectators will drive to the stadium and park their vehicle adjacent to the stadium or sports venue in very large parking lots. Whether it was the exuberance of the spectators arriving early in anticipation of the game, or just spectators arriving early and hungry, a modern pastime has arisen in the parking lots of most such sports venues. This is the pre-game tailgate party.
At such pre-game parking lot parties, spectators bring food and barbecues or stoves along with refreshments and have a picnic or party adjacent to their vehicle parked in the parking lot. Such sports fans and spectators often bring food and beverages that are not available inside the sporting arenas and sit on their tailgates, or on their car trunks to dine and socialize. For most such spectators, sitting on the ground for their pre-game celebration and eating is not an attractive option due to traffic and the general nature of the hard pavement of parking lots. Consequently, spectators generally bring tables with them to support the food and beverages they bring to eat and share, in an elevated position. The tables are also employed to display the food and beverages for the guests at the parking lot party and sometimes to play games upon in passing the time.
The same need for tables to support food and eating utensils arises for people who may take their vehicle on a weekend drive away from home and a picnic. It is common during such a trek for picnics similar to tailgate parties to be enjoyed by the vehicle passengers in various venues, such as in parking lots of amusement parks, national forests, public picnic grounds, roadside parks, and other destinations away from home. Since their destination may ultimately lack tables, especially if it is in a wilderness or out of the way location, unless the vehicle passengers want to sit on the ground and battle with insects and wildlife, tables must be taken along in the vehicle for deployment at their destination to hold the food and beverages in an elevated position where it may be enjoyed with comfort.
While chairs may not be a necessity, since people can stand while eating, tables are for all practical purposes a necessity if users want to avoid sitting on the ground or constantly bending over to pick their food and drinks up off the ground.
However, with groups of people occupying the vehicle itself, vehicle interior space is at a premium for hauling food, drink, clothing, cooking equipment and the like, as well as the people themselves. Consequently, the addition of a large flat table or tables to the other items being hauled in the trunk or cargo area of the vehicle can severely impact the hauling capability of the vehicle.
Still further, in the case of larger vehicles like trucks and Sport Utility Vehicles, the seating area in the vehicle encourages hauling a large number of passengers. A larger number of passengers of course will require more table space once they arrive at their destination. However, bringing multiple tables to accommodate this need will also exacerbate the above noted problem of interior space running out for other items to be hauled in the vehicle.
As such, there exists an unmet need for a portable table system which may be hauled with the vehicle, outside of the vehicle thereby preserving the cargo and passenger hauling capability of the vehicle. Such a table system should be easy to engage with the vehicle itself to provide both a means to haul the table and a means to position the table surface in an elevated position without the need for legs on the table. Additionally, and of particular importance in the case of larger vehicles with more passengers, such a table system should provide multiple elevated table surfaces to accommodate the needs of a larger number of passengers the vehicle may carry.
Further, such a system should be adapted for easy engagement to, and removal from, the exterior of the vehicle to both encourage use, and allow for removal and storage during periods of non use. To this end, and to alleviate the need for straps and other supports to hold the device, such a table system should preferably be adapted to engage a conventional trailer hitch receiver which is already installed upon the exterior of many vehicles and which has standardized sizes and weight support characteristics. By adapting the table system to engage conventional trailer hitch receivers, users may engage the device to any of a plurality of vehicles having a conventional hitch receiver. This allows the users to buy new cars and still use the device, or to use it on any of a plurality of vehicles which may be used by the group attending a sporting event such as a football game.
With respect to the above, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the trailer hitch receiver engageable table system herein in detail or in general, it is to be understood that the hitch-receiver engageable table system disclosed herein is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components or the steps in the method set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The various components of the apparatus of the disclosed hitch-supported table invention are capable of other embodiments, and of being practiced and carried out in various ways, all of which will become obvious to those skilled in the art, once the information herein is reviewed. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other hitch receiver supported table systems capable of carrying two tables, and for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device and method. It is important, therefore, that the embodiments, objects and claims herein, be regarded as including such equivalent methodology and operational components insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.